Protests in Ukraine as Zelensky signs bill targeting anti-corruption bodies– www.bbc.com
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Excerpt:
President Volodymyr Zelensky has signed a bill that critics say weakens the independence of Ukraine’s anti-corruption bodies, sparking protests in several cities and drawing international criticism.
Critics say the new law undermines the authority of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (Nabu) and Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (Sapo) – placing them under the control of the prosecutor general.
In an address on Wednesday, Zelensky said both agencies would still “work” but needed to be cleared of “Russian influence”.
After the bill passed, hundreds of people gathered in Kyiv for the biggest anti-government protest since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022.
Demonstrations were also seen in the cities of Lviv, Dnipro and Odesa.
“We chose Europe, not autocracy,” said a poster held by one demonstrator. “My father did not die for this,” said another.
Ukraine’s chief prosecutor, Zelensky loyalist Ruslan Kravchenko, will now be able to reassign corruption probes to potentially more pliant investigators, and even to close them.
